Guns, Statistics, Living Together and a Short Story

For The Statisticians Among Us

In addition to some further thoughts on gun control legislation, intergenerational housing and a short story taken from my archives, this posting of JacksPotpourri includes some interesting statistics as well.

When I checked out the numbers on the viewers of this blog yesterday, I found that during the preceding seven day period, there were 60 "hits" from within the United States, and 67 from outside of the country.  These broke down as follows:  Russia 18, United Kingdom 17, Latvia 12, Ukraine 9, Japan 3, and two each in Canada, Germany, Lituania and Romania.  I attribute our European following, which has been consistent, to the occasional items I post regarding European economic problems.  Once something appears on JacksPotpourri, it can show up in searches being made using a variety of search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo, leading to "hits" on that particular posting.  

Also of interest are the variety of "browsers" used to sign on to JacksPotpourri.  Internet Explorer was used on 51% of the "hits" listed above, Firefox for 18%, Chrome for 12%, Opera for 8% and Safari for 7%.

Jack Lippman

                                                       


My Congressman's Support of Gun Control Isn't 
Decisive !  Maybe Yours Is !

Despite the fact that **polls show that a clear majority of Americans support serious gun control legislation, the passing of such laws is doubtful because most of that clear majority live in Congressional districts whose Representatives already support the passage of such laws.  New Yorkers, Chicagoans, Bostonians, Philadelphians, San Franciscans and those who live in their outlying suburbs have representatives in the House and Senate who don’t have to be convinced.  Even here in South Florida, most of the Congressmen representing Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties (where support for tighter gun control is stronger) are in that category.  

We must not forget, however, that there are many, many supporters of serious gun control living in Congressional districts whose Representatives are standing firm against tightening up gun control for a variety of reasons.  While they might not be a majority there, they represent a sizable block of voters, probably in excess of NRA members in those districts.  It is these voters who must be mobilized. They are the ones who must communicate their thoughts to their representatives in great numbers.  This will balance the fear such legislators have of being deserted by their base if they switch sides on even a portion of gun control legislation.

One hundred Emails or letters supporting gun control to a Congressman in North Carolina, for example, are worth far more than a thousand such Emails to a Congressman from Chicago, who would be supporting gun control anyway.  If you have friends or relatives living in areas where their Senators or Representatives are opposed to tighter gun controls, you might suggest that they voice their opinion to them by Email or letter. 

Write or Email Your Congressman and Senators

** Generally, polls over the past few months have consistently shown that about 85% of Americans support stronger background checks of gun purchasers and that about 57% support tighter regulation of magazine size and military type assault weapons.  Despite this, right now, it appears that such measures face very tough sledding in Congress.

JL

                                                                       



 Intergenerational Housing
  

Those of you who follow this blog may recall that I have frequently said that high unemployment is going to be a permanent part of our economic picture, and that to assure jobs to more people, there will have to be limits on the number of hours a week a person can work, and a mandatory early retirement age.  Thereby, what employment there is (after labor intensive jobs are shipped overseas and advances in technology have reduced the number of jobs remaining domestically) will have to be “rationed” and made available to more employees.

As part of this picture, since workers will be making less money, I said that there would be more doubling up of families, with adult children, and their children, residing in the same households as their parents and grandparents, bringing about a sharp reduction in housing costs.

It is happening!  And sooner than I predicted.  The current edition of the AARP Bulletin includes an article on intergenerational housing, and points out that “approximately 51 million Americans, or 16.7% of the population, live in a house with at least two adult generations, or a grandparent and at least one other generation, under one roof.” 

JL

                                                            

                                                     

Future Radio  (taken from my short story archives)

Jack Lippman

When I picked up my new car at the dealership and the salesman went over all of the goodies which were included, I remember asking about an unfamiliar looking purple sticker on the AM-FM radio.

“I dunno what that is, never saw it before,” he had said, “but I’ll check it out with the service department and call you if it means anything.  Probably some extra examination the car went through.  They’re always adding new procedures to make sure everything works fine, and your car checks out great!”  And after three months of enjoying the pleasures of owning that car, that was exactly my opinion too!

Except for the radio.  As soon as I had gotten home with the car, I tried to set the radio pushbuttons for the stations to which I usually listen.  It wasn’t an easy job, because whenever I pressed a button to set a station, the words FUTURE OPTION kept popping up briefly on the digital dial screen. 

I studied the manual but found nothing about that in it.  I even called the dealership but they weren’t able to help either.  Finally, after setting up the pushbuttons the way I wanted them, my curiosity got the best of me about this FUTURE OPTION thing, whatever it was, and I started fiddling around with the buttons when I saw those two words flashing on the screen.  After a few tries, I accidentally hit the SEEK and SCAN buttons simultaneously and to my surprise, the words started flashing even more rapidly and changed to a purple color.  Frankly, I didn’t know what to do next but to my amazement, the screen started scrolling upward and now read in blinking purple letters, TONY, PUSH SEEK AND SCAN TOGETHER NOW TO CONTINUE.  Somewhere between being frightened out of my wits by this radio which apparently knew my name, and being unable to resist the temptation to find out what was going on, I took a deep breath and simultaneously pressed the SEEK and SCAN buttons once more.

My entire body starting shaking when next I heard a deep voice, resonating through eight Bose speakers announcing, “Welcome to the future.  We wondered how long it was going to take you to figure out how to get here, Tony.  Although you car’s manufacturer will deny it, and rightly so since they know nothing of what I am about to tell you, your car’s radio system has been selected by a technology you are not capable of understanding to be equipped with a special band enabling you to listen to future radio broadcasts.  By simply moving the tuning arrows, which will reflect digits from 100 to 1000, you will be able to tune in on radio broadcasts from one hundred to one thousand years into the future.  Development of this system is not yet sufficiently advanced to enable you to select the frequencies to which you may listen, but generally, transmissions of news or current affairs stations will be provided.  In order to make certain that you, or the next few generations of your offspring, Tony, will not be able to profit from information heard on these broadcasts from the future, the system has been programmed so that it cannot access broadcasts in the relatively near future, that is, within the next hundred years.  We hope this limitation will not lessen your enjoyment of your Future Radio experience!”

After my initial shock wore off, I started tuning in on the future.  At first tentatively, but shortly with the gusto of a computer surfer who just went on line, I found that I was able to listen to English language newscasts which reported what was going on in the world and depending on how far into the future I tuned, even in the rest of our solar system over the next thousand years.

Now, just to set things straight and answer what might be the most obvious questions of anyone who is reading this, insofar as I have been able to discern from my future listening experience thus far, it appears that a world-wide nuclear war did not take place during the next millennium.  In fact, it appears that weaponry of mass destruction for use on our own planet was not a significant factor in the future.  I would guess that something occurred during the next hundred years, which of course I was not able to listen in on, to resolve that problem or at least push it into the background.  I did, however, listen to a few broadcasts from about five hundred years down the road when people on our planet did use what sounded like a very sophisticated weapons system to prevent a force from another part of the universe from colonizing another planer in our solar system.  Apparently, there was great loss of life in this venture, and a holiday memorializing it started being celebrated throughout the planet shortly thereafter.

Through the future centuries, however, I heard many, many broadcasts dealing with an ongoing struggle the earth’s human population was waging against the planet’s insect, bacterial and viral populations.  Most of the world’s technical and financial resources seemed to be devoted to this apparently very exhausting battle against these other forms of life for control of the planet.

But beyond this necessarily brief summary of what I have learned about what will occur during the next millennium, let me report to you on what I feel is, thus far, the most memorable story which I heard while tuned in on news broadcasts from the future.  It is unusual in that while I failed in my earlier attempts to record these transmissions, I had no difficulty whatsoever in making a tape of this particular broadcast, and with such ease that I suspect that it was intended that I be able to do so.  Here is the tape, which reproduces a narration by a gentleman I presume to be a Walter Cronkite type in the year 2752.

“It has been three days now since observers have been reporting seeing what appears to be a horse and rider in the sky circling the planet.  Although readily visible with rudimentary telescopes and occasionally to the naked eye, authorities have been unable to approach the horse and rider, due to a force field of some kind surrounding it.  Since it does not appear to be hostile, is not interfering with our sky routes and probes indicate that it does not possess weaponry, government action at this point has been limited to continuous observation.”

“Reaction among the Earth’s population, however, has not been so reserved.  Although traditional religions are still legally permitted to be practiced on Earth, most of the world’s population, for better or for worse, have limited their faith to a simple belief, far short of worship, in an omnipotent power, similar to what in the past was referred to as God.  Nevertheless, many groups on the planet still do have knowledge of and follow some of the old rituals historically used in worshipping this power, or God, as they still often call it, and it is these groups that have been particularly enthusiastic in attributing great significance to the appearance of the horse and rider.”

“Leaders of the Muslim religion have announced that the horse and rider are nothing more than the promised return of their Prophet, Mohammed, who had ridden off on his horse to Heaven centuries ago from an elevated area in Jerusalem.  The Catholic Church, from its offices in the Vatican City, has proclaimed that while no horse was actually needed to carry him, close-up views seen by equipment at the Georgetown University Observatory leave no doubt that the rider is actually Jesus Christ, coming again as proclaimed by his followers.  Protestant leaders have echoed this Catholic assertion.  And in Jerusalem, Orthodox Jews in black hats can be seen dancing in the streets, firmly believing that although the Messiah they expect is neither Mohammed nor Jesus Christ, what is going on certainly indicates that this is a most propitious time to expect his arrival.”

“And so it was that this morning when the horse and rider were expected to swoop down, setting foot on the ground near Jerusalem, there were nearly two million Muslims, Christians and Jews assembled waiting in awe.  Among them were the leading clerics of what formal religions are still being practiced on Earth.  The planet’s leading ministers, priests, imams, rabbis and holy men of all varieties, sizes and shapes had come there and shared a set of bleachers authorities had quickly set up when their tracking systems confirmed the time and place of the impending landing.  Finally, as the horse and rider touched down amidst the din of a million prayers being chanted, whispered, wailed and mumbled in a myriad of tongues, there was reported an overpowering gleam of light filling the sky, forcing all present to raise their hands to shield their eyes at the same time as a sudden and eviscerating silence blanketed the assemblage. 

 .   

When the gathered believers finally dropped their hands from their faces and opened their eyes and looked before them, there was neither horse nor rider to be seen.  And then, as if following some universal but silent directive, the crowd quickly dispersed amidst a warming, unnatural and all-encompassing calm which seemed to pervade the atmosphere and seep into the consciousness of every individual there, imparting a sweet feeling of well-being.  They all smiled inwardly knowing, if they were Muslim, that their Prophet had returned and if they were Christian, that the resurrected Jesus had come again, and if they were Jewish, that the Messiah now walked among them, all of which means, I guess, that in the eyes of believers, God’s in his Heaven and all’s right with the world.  This is Correspondent 4456 reporting from Jerusalem.”

Frankly, I was surprised that the newscaster finished his story, which speaks for itself, with a line from a poem by Robert Browning and I wondered how much more of our cultural heritage survived into the twenty-eighth century.  That’s what I was thinking as I waited outside of CBS News’ offices in New York City.  The door opened and the gentleman I had spoken to on the phone came out.

“Tony, we’ve listened to your tape and frankly, we can’t use it.” He said as he handed me back the manila envelope containing my cassette.  “It’s a good story, but how can we prove that it isn’t a hoax.  You know, a lot of these stories end up being fabrications when we get to the bottom of them.”

“I expected that you would be saying something like that.  If you’d come out to my place, you could listen to the radio yourself and see that this is no hoax,” I replied.

“Fair enough,” he said.  “I live out your way and I’ll stop by on the way to work tomorrow.  Would eight in the morning be too early?”

“See you then,” I said.  “You have my address, right?”

“Yup!”

When I got home that evening, my car was missing from the garage where I kept it under lock and key, and the lock showed no signs of having been tampered with.  I immediately notified the police and at about one in the morning, the phone rang. 

“Mr. Green, this is Officer Morton down at police headquarters.  Good news!  We found your car in a parking lot at a mall.  Looks like some kids must have taken it, did some riding around and left it there.  They didn’t do any damage either other than ripping out your radio.  Damn neat job of it, they did, too.  Didn’t leave a scratch.  But that’s no big deal, I guess.  Don’t worry.  We’ll catch them.  We usually do, sooner or later.  Can you come down in the morning, get the paperwork done and pick up your car?  Okay?”

I didn’t reply right away and after a few seconds, Officer Morton repeated his question.  “Are you okay, Mr. Green?  Will you be coming down tomorrow?  Is anything wrong?

“No, Officer.  Everything is alright.  I’ll come down in the morning to take care of the paperwork.”  And I silently added to myself that I knew very well that the police would not be able to catch whomever or whatever it was that departed with my car’s radio.  Not for a very, very long time, anyway.

                                                

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Jack Lippman